Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
Ninth Amendment to the Constitution. James Madison didn't want a Bill Of Rights at all, because he firmly believed that ALL rights belong to the people and none to the government, and that if he left anything out somewhere down the line someone would say "They didn't mention that one, therefore they didn't want it there!" The Ninth Amendment was Madison hedging his bets against that very argument.
"It is to secure these rights that governments are instituted among men." I'm sure I read that somewhere.
As I've said before, and will continue to say, I have the right to do anything I want, as long as it doesn't infringe anyone else's right to do the same. We create govenments to protect our rights, and we make laws to protect ourselves from each other. Anything more is an attempt to legislate morality.
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That implies that gay marriage is a right retained by the people. I submit that it was never a right to begin with, and therefore the 9th does not apply. Furthermore, the 9th Amendment has generally been applied to limiting the expansion of government RESTRICTIONS - defining marriage doesn't expand any restriction that hasn't already been in place. Rather, it merely better defines it.